Edsel Ford Fung (often spelled Fong) (May 6, 1927 – April 1984) was an American restaurant server from San Francisco, California.[1] He was often called the "world's rudest, worst, most insulting waiter" and worked at Sam Wo restaurant.[2]

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Edsel Ford Fong was born and raised in San Francisco's Chinatown. He worked the second floor of the Sam Wo Restaurant on Washington Street. (The restaurant name means "three in peace", a reference to its founding partners.)[3] As head waiter, Fong greeted visitors with an admonition to "sit down and shut up".[4] He was known for calling patrons "retarded" and "fat", criticizing people's menu choices and then telling them what they should order, slamming food on the table, complaining about receiving only 15% tips, and groping female patrons.[2] An imposing man with a crew cut hair style, he also was notorious for seating people with strangers, forgetting orders, cursing, spilling soup on customers, hazing newcomers, refusing to provide forks or English menu translations, and busing tables before diners were finished.[5]

Fong was made famous by columnist Herb Caen, who often described the misanthropic Fong during his visits to Sam Wo. Caen would interview Fong on matters of local politics and gossip, then reprint Fong's Yogi Berra-like responses, which Fong would in turn proudly show to his loyal regulars.[5] Caen included Fong in his guide of things to do in San Francisco, under "58. See the world's rudest waiter".[6] Although genuinely rude, his style was self-conscious and his role at the restaurant was not just to serve food but also to be a resident "entertainer" and "madman".

Sam Wo Restaurant continued to operate in Chinatown until 2012, still listed in tourist guidebooks as being where Fong practiced a "wicked sarcasm [that] took on aspects of performance art".[12] The restaurant announced its closure in April 2012, citing the age of the building and kitchen as a contributing factor in the closure. Sam Wo's was over 100 years old at the time of closing.[13]

^ abEric Ehrmann (1996). "Curry Noodle Time:The Sam Woh Experience". Archived from the original on 2009-08-04. Retrieved 2007-09-12. But it was a despotic head waiter known as Edsel Ford Fong that made SAM WOH such a formidable Babylon-by-the-Bay institution. Edsel, big for an oriental chap at 6' 200 lbs. in his whitewall crew cut, long apron and omnipresent game-face scowl. If you walked in at prime time and didn't know Edsel you were in for some first-class abuse taking. He was the Pol Pot of noodledom and when it came to insults, he took no prisoners.

^"Robin Williams". San Francisco Chronicle. 1997-02-08. Retrieved 2007-09-12. Oops, she's missing our table, going right to God's. I hope they have a waiter like Edsel Ford Fong who goes, No water here. Only wine!